“And above all,
watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you,
because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
― Roald Dahl





Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Eleven







Yesterday was Helena's 11th birthday!

 
 


There was a cake, some unicorns and a baby llama.



We went to Barnes & Noble for a while then we came home, watched Jumanji, & had spaghetti.

I'm very proud of this girl..she's helpful, encouraging and a bit stubborn..
We had a difficult time for a while, for various reasons,
and throughout it all she has been tirelessly bright and positive.




 Happy Birthday Helena!
May this year be absolutely magical for you.
Thank you for never letting me give up.

(2 years old)








Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Humpday with apples and skellies






Happy Haunted Humpday!!

It's our 2nd one in October!
How are you enjoying this festive month?
We try to get in a scary movie every evening.
So far this week we have watched..






What can I say? TCM has them for free on-demand:)

Have you watched this one before?


It's from the early 80's.

Plot
Six girls have been found murdered in the apartment of famed russian occultist,
 Karl Raymarseivich Raymar and the police cannot explain it. 
When Raymar's body was lifted onto a stretcher, bolts of electricity shot out from his fingers. 
His estranged daughter Olivia and her husband Allan are unaware of this until
 they meet Samuel Dockstader, a feature writer for The World of the occult as a friend of Raymar.
 Dockstader explains that Raymar was a psychic vampire who gained great powers of telekinesis by kidnapping young girls, terrorizing them, and feeding off the bioenergy they produced. 
Allan does not believe him, but Dockstader shows Olivia a set of photographs to demonstrate how bioenergy works and gives her an audiotape that outlines his findings, which convinces Olivia to believe him.
Meanwhile, High school student Julie Wells wants to be part of a club entitled The Sisters, which consist of three snobby high school girls named Carol, Leslie, and Kitty, 
Unfortunately, Carol is the ex-girlfriend of Julie's new boyfriend Steve, and is jealous. 
She intends to get back at Steve and Julie by making Julie spend a night alone in a mausoleum, unaware that Raymar's body was just entombed there. 
That evening, Julie is dropped off by only Carol and Kitty, as Leslie had refused to accompany them on the plan. 
Julie explores the mausoleum and sets up her sleeping bag, unaware of the cracks that appear around Raymar's vault.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's pretty good, a little cheesy and gory but 
worth it if you can find it.
We watched  it on YouTube a little while back.
It's perfect to watch huddled under a warm blanket with the lights out.



We are planning on making these on Friday.
There's a trip to a local pumpkin patch in the works too!



Caramel Stuffed Apples

Total Time:
Prep:
Level: Easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 apples, halved
  • 2 tbsp. butter, melted
  • 3 tbsp. cinnamon sugar
  • 12-16 caramel candies
  • 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Using a melon baller, core the apples. Place apples in a shallow baking dish and brush each with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Pour water into baking dish and place in oven for 20 minutes.
  3. Remove apples from oven and add 3-4 caramels to the well in each apple. Return to bake, 15 more minutes. Drizzle with chocolate, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, and serve


This passed week has gone by so fast!
I've started many new paintings and projects but the only one 
I have ready to show is an art card I created.
she has a burlap skirt on!



Helena painted these wooden witch legs, haha!




Last year on my birthday I received a gift card to a bookstore here called
Changing Hands..
I was not able to go use the gift card until February, due to health problems.
By that time everything was on clearance, including these cuties, they were three dollars!
I almost forgot I had them!

 
My friend stopped by the other night to watch movies and paint.
For no reason, he brought me some sweet amazing gifts!
This awesome candelabra...


and this handsome guy..isn't he CUTE!?




Ready for a story?


The nights have become chilly
 and the shadows are creeping in earlier and earlier
So let's sit by the fire now...

This story is about a lady named Bettina and her husband Ricardo,
They lived on a small farm in a pretty desolate area of town, 
( in fact they only had one close neighbor, her sister and her nephew)
with a small apple orchard and a modest sized pumpkin patch behind their house.
.  They also had some chickens, a couple of goats and an old pony.
 
One afternoon Ricardo arrived home and said one of his friends was moving
 and had asked if he wanted to buy his hog, 
It was very large and would be ready to slaughter by next fall.
They had an old pig pen already built and it was empty,
 so he purchased the animal and brought it home the next day.
 From the start Bettina didn't care for the hog.
She told Ricardo that every time she went to feed him she felt uneasy.
It would stare at her and whenever she got near the pen to care for the other animals,
it would rush at the fence then turn away at the last minute.
She asked Ricardo to please replace the wood because it was old, and rotted.
She was also afraid the hog would push the catch with it's snout and the door would swing open.
He promised her he would, but honestly did not understand her fear,
to him the hog was just that, a hog.
He removed the latch and replaced it near the top of the gate,
but the new reinforcement would have to wait until harvest was over.
She began to have disturbing nightmares where the hog 
would leer at her through the window and speak to her in a raspy voice.
One night as she was getting ready for bed,
she thought she saw it watching her from the closet.
Ricardo was busy working, so he did not notice her discomfort getting worse. 
Her twenty year old nephew arrived one evening to help Ricardo finish out the season.
he noticed how nervous she was and asked her what was wrong.
She told him it was the hog..she believed it was evil.
she said it giggled softly when ever she went passed the pen. 
Sometimes she could it hear it muttering to itself.
It haunted her dreams and told her it was going to catch her and tear her throat out.
To her it was no longer a hog, but a demon.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
He attempted to assuage her fear but nothing he said helped.
 He spoke to Ricardo about it and 
he said he'd go into town as soon as he had a chance and get some wood to reinforce the pen, 
He also wanted to cover the fence so she would not have to see the hog from the kitchen window.
He thought that would help her feel better.
The next morning after breakfast,  Ricardo got in his truck and  went to purchase
the necessary supplies to fix up the area.
 When he got back he was surprised to see the sheriff and an ambulance in front of the house.
He was not allowed to enter his home.
His sister-in-law was there, in hysterics.
Once she calmed down she told him what she knew.
She had heard his truck start and drive off, then about five minutes later
she got a phone call from her sister, 
claiming that she could see the hog was on it's hind legs 
and was trying to undo the latch on the gate.
As she listened she said her sister started to scream.
By the time she threw down the phone and raced over to the house, it was too late.
When she got there the back door was in pieces
 and the hog was eating her sisters face.
It had already torn out her throat.


 It was ruled an accident, of course..
The pig obviously broke through a door that was weak and attacked a human.
that's all..
The strange thing was, the gate to the hog pen was not broken.
It had been unlatched.


 
Guess what?
it's my blog's birthday!
This place has been a home to me.
Many people feel blogging is losing steam, choosing Instagram and FaceBook
to post their art and tell their stories...that's fine, obviously, it's your own choice.
I use IG and FB, but I always come back here.
There's a certain comfort to blogging for me.
I won't be quitting any time soon,
So to my little blog:


See you all very soon!

have a happy Haunted Humpday!


Thursday, September 21, 2017

A King's Day ( haunted humpday part 2)

It's Here!







It's birthday-day for Stephen King!
Happy 70th Birthday!!!!!
 
I've spoken about it often and written about it here a few times
but I will revisit why he means so much to me.

The first book of his I read was

 
I was still a child so I didn't understand much of it.
Staying over at my aunt's house watching 'Carrie"as the late night movie was a different thing all together..
I'm still afraid of the part when her mom lights the house up with all the candles.
I think this song was the reason that scene creeps me out so much!



It seems he has always been with me
in many pockets of time..good and bad.
I had my daughter and needed a book to read in the early stages of labor:
'Salem's Lot"
When I was treated horribly by someone
 I read 'The Mist' and forgot why I had been sad in the first place,
Reading 'Everything's Eventual' after I got married and being relieved
 someone else was in the room when I got scared.
During a sleepover with my daughter, my niece, nephew and a puppy named Kane..
(all cozy on my bed room floor in sleeping bags)
I read 'The girl who loved Tom Gordon' and knew that was going to be a vivid memory one day.

I reach for his books
for comfort and familiarity
like taking the hand of old friend,
which seems odd at times considering how terrifying his stories usually are.
But
Sometimes his scary is easier to deal with than my scary...
 


He was with me during
 my father's illness and eventual passing a few years ago,
In attorney's office last summer..
In a courthouse last November
In a very scary doctor's office
& just recently, in a hospital room. 
 
I can count on him and he is always there.


I've passed my love for him and his books down to my girls.
Hopefully
they will also find the light in the dark that he brings and learn the lessons that he teaches.

So
the festivities started last night, or rather, this morning at the stroke of midnight..
We were watching Creepshow and heard a light tapping at the window..
well of course it was Danny Glick 
waiting to be invited in...


He was the first to arrive..
Then the guests started to pour in..
Church came back, again!


Helena invited Carrie..





and Pennywise 1990



 
We heard a eerie scraping sound over by the sewer grate
(next to the pantry)


and out popped Pennywise 2017



Mr. Barlow appeared in the kitchen.


and Aunt Sylvia made an appearance too.
 
 
aww, even General and the nasty little troll are here!


Here Comes Jordy and his bucket of meteor shit!


It looks like the werewolves arrived..
This one is from the Neibolt house


And this one looks the guy from Cycle of the Werewolf




 
speaking of which,
This is how they got here...




The manglers are here too, practically knocking down the door!
 


We decided that it was probably a good idea to feed them all.
So we brought out the food.

Eyeball, anyone?


How about getting lost in a maze cake from the Overlook?


the Children of the Corndogs are pretty tasty too..



Now it's time to sing Happy Birthday!!
I see Annie Wilkes stopped by
and..... shhhh! he didn't want me to say anything but
Stephen King couldn't resist visiting either!
As the guest of honor,
We had him sit at the head of the table.
He heard about this awesome party and could not help himself!


I think the crate cake was what lured him over, haha!


Ok ok
he's made of cardboard but it could happen!!  
You never know!
It's his birthday and WE actually got some gifts!
My older daughter and my niece bought us goodies.


Frida Kahlo lipsticks


Halloween socks



CREEPSHOW graphic novel



this solar, wiggly, dia de los muertos toy
 (plus a super toasty, fleece Halloween blanket
 that is not pictured cause Helena is all wrapped up in it)


Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner and then to watch 'It'
I hope you enjoyed our little celebration.
By now you probably can guess that the King and I 
are a bit entwined.
I buy his books and He alters my life : )

...
Although i have no romantic notions towards this man
I do, however occasionally dream of him..
sometimes it's just us, hanging out..talking abut his books..
other times, ok four times, 
I have had this recurring dream that we are dancing the Tango.
(I have no idea why that particular dance)
I wake up from these dreams with the song 'Por una cabeza' stuck in my head.
The song is beautiful, so I'm including it in case you want to listen.



and I will leave you with this image of us dancing:





Hey, it's my birthday party for him, I can ask him to Tango if I want!! 
it could happen, you never know.


Have an amazing day & don't forget to eat some cake and


 thank you for stopping by!